Editorial – Getting the axe

IT IS heartening to note that the regional police leadership has finally let the axe fall on six policemen who tested positive for illegal drugs during a random examination conducted in July.
The law enforcers, who are members of the Davao City Police Office, will still have a chance to file a motion for reconsideration, which means asking Police Regional Director Jaime H. Morente to change his decision to fire them.
Whatever the final decision of Morente will be, it is hoped that the case of the six law enforcers will be a lesson to other policemen who violate the law that they are supposedly tasked to enforce in the first place.
On the other hand, if the ouster of the six is eventually confirmed and become final and executory, the next step should be to watch their moves. In the past, policemen who were fired for a similar offense “graduated” to full-fledged drug pushers as an alternative source of livelihood.
Since there is no half-way house or something like it for drug offenders among law enforcers, the law-abiding ones remaining in the police force have no other choice but to be more vigilant and cast a sharper eye on the activities of their wayward former comrades.